Phoenix Rising

Bench Racing

Not to make light of people suffering from homelessness, but it's true.

It's been homeless for about five years.

Long-time readers may remember a time when Classics and Performance featured my project cars – a site feature that I removed in August of 2016. I hadn't had a place to work on any projects since 2013 and lacked the finances to do so for four years prior to that. Consequently, there wasn't much point in keeping them up because it wasn't something I was able to support any longer.

A sad fact of life – especially since the whole point of Classics and Performance for me, was my love of cars. Something that was no longer an active, regular part of my life.

Coming to the point that I could no longer support the projects was a dejecting experience, but in order for a Phoenix to rise, there must first be ashes for it to rise from.

It was like the Phoenix had popped open one eye and poked it out of the mounds of ash to see how the winds of time had blown them about. It spent about eight months like that, just looking around.

It was a pretty desolate place.

When the epiphany to complete the site update I had started back in 2010 hit me later on in 2016, it was like its head poked out from its hiding place, but it just wasn't ready to lift itself up quite yet.

There was a lot of work to do to get there and as I did the work, I came to the realization I wasn't going to be able to move forward with the site and keep my favorite feature – and based on the traffic numbers, the feature that most other people were interested in, as well – the projects were going to have to go.

As soon as they did, it was like a giant weight was lifted from the Phoenix because, for the first time, it stood up and shook off the ashes.

Classics and Performance finally had a chance to be resurrected from its atrophy and I worked my ass off for another year before that Phoenix rose up in all its glory – and squawked like a strangled chicken.

Without the projects, it hasn't been the same, and I'm aware of that. The Phoenix has been staring at me in stern rebuke for some time now and I get it.

As soon as I'm able to find a home for Classics and Performance and can support the projects, they'll be back. Until then the Phoenix is going to have to patiently wait.

It's almost there – well, it's almost there in Ryan-time, which could mean a while, but this thing has been 15 years in the making, and perception of time is relative.